Tuesday, April 25, 2017

LINK to Part 1LINK to Part 2This part covers the cuisine of Andorra, Catalonia and an old region called Roussillon which was part of Catalonia (called Northern Catalonia) but later in history it became part of France. It was first called Roussillon, then Lanquedoc-Roussillon and since the recent change in French mapping it is not called Pyrenees-Orientale (Midi-Pyrenees and Roussillon-Languedoc).

Below are maps of the 22 older sections of France and the new regions (12).

The map below shows the Midi-Pyrenees area of France. All of the dark pink is the Midi-Pyrenees aka Pyrenees-Orientale. The bottom number (66) in dark pink is old Roussillon and the little dot to the left of it is Andorra.

Andorra is a small country in-between old Roussillon (Pyrenees-Orientale) (old Northern Catalonia) and Catalonia, Spain. See maps below.

Andorran cuisine is a mixture of Spanish Catalan cuisine and the cuisine of Southern France. It is a European cuisine which is adapted to mountainous cuisine with high quality ingredients.

As with many cuisines Andorran cuisine is seasonal. For example, in autumn game such as wild boar and & hare and mushrooms play a major part. A sauce for stewed or grilled game is a white sponge mushroom sauce with chile peppers and saffron. Meat dishes, made on a grill or stewed on open fire, are served with Catalan garlic sauce aioli *. Mushrooms are also served with mashed potatoes and special sauces. Hare and wild boar are also stewed in red wine are popular and are served with vegetables and wild mushrooms.

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(*Where did garlic sauce aioli or garlic mayonnaise come from? It originated in Egypt and was introduced to Spain and France by the Romans.) Classic Catalan all-i-oli is used on fish, meat,vegetables & salads and is made without egg yolks and with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice or wine vinegar. Two other versions ajolio and ajiaccite are made with the same ingredients but use eggs.

For Halloween, they make a dough out of sweet potatoes, almonds and cedar nuts which is baked and then served with fruit, nuts and chestnuts and served with a white Muscat wine. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In winter they eat hot veggie dishes such as cabbage or beets. In Andorra, Roussillon and Catalonia the cabbage dish is called Trinxat.

Popular in Andorra and Catalonia and Roussillon aka Northern Catalonia ia a dish called escudella (stew) in Catalonia and Andorra and ouillade in Roussillon. There are several types of escudella but I have chosen th one with beans!!

Monday, April 24, 2017

Greek presence in Italy begins with the migrations of the old Greek Diaspora (see world map below)

The darker the red in the photo above means the more Greeks in the area.

Dark Red: 1,000,000 or more

Next Red: 200,000 or more

Next Red: 50,000 to 100,000

Next Red: 20,000-50,000

Next: 1,000-20,000

Gray 1,000 or less

Greek Americans (Greek:Ελληνοαμερικάνοι, Ellinoamerikanoi) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. About 1.3 million American people are of Greek descent,although there are estimates that raise this number to 3 million, and 321,144 people older than five spoke Greek at home in 2010.

in the 8th century BC, continuing down to the present time. There is a linguistic minority known as the Griko people, who live in the Southern Italian regions of Calabria (Province of Reggio Calabria) and Apulia or Puglia, especially the peninsula of Salento, within the old Magna Graecia region, who speak a distinctive dialect of Greek called Griko. They are believed to be remnants of the ancient and medieval Greek communities, who have lived in the south of Italy for centuries. Alongside this group, a smaller number of more recent migrants from Greece lives in Italy, forming an expatriate community in the country. Today many Greeks in Southern Italy follow Italian customs and culture.

During many centuries of cohabitation there was an exchange of knowledge between Griko and Southern Italians in the art of cooking. The Griko are traditionally producers of cereals, vegetables, olives and legumes. Local Griko cuisine does not differ greatly from the local Italian population, however there local regional variations. Many typical Griko dishes are still in use among them. Some of them are mentioned below.Sadly the Grikos culture is disappearing as they meld with the Italians in Calabria and Apulia.

Le Cuddhure - a traditional Griko cake made during Easter, from the Greek Koulouri

Tiaulicchiu - Hot Chilipeppers, extensively eaten throughout Grecia Salentina, they are usually stored dry, or preserved in jars of oil, with the addition of slivers of garlic, mint, and capers

Sceblasti - a traditional type of hand made bread from the Grecia Salentina region.

Aggute - a traditional Greek-Calabrian Easter bread from the Bovesia region, it is prepared with a mixture of flour, eggs and butter and the surface is decorated with painted hard boiled eggs, similar to the Greek Tsoureki

Scardateddhi - traditional Greek-Calabrian wedding sweets, made from flour, honey and anise seeds which are shaped like small doughnuts. They are then cooked in boiling water, and sprinkled with brown sugar before being served.

A book about the cuisine of the Griko of Salento has been published, entitled Grecia Salentina la Cultura Gastronomica. It features many traditional recipes distinctive to the Grecia Salentina region of southern Apulia.

Approximately 20 inhabited islands extend from the southern tip of the peninsula around Athens and dot the central part of the Aegean. These include Milos, Kea, Naxos, Andros, Myconos, and Santorini, as well as many uninhabited land masses. The mainstays of the cuisine—savory barley and wheat biscuits, simple cheeses, and cured pork—have remained more or less unchanged throughout the centuries. The drystone terraces on the steep hillsides were originally built in antiquity to expand the scarce cultivable land of the islands so that the people could plant barley, beans, and vegetables. Barley, which has been cultivated in the Mediterranean since the beginnings of civilization, was for centuries the staple for the island people.

Paximadia, the barley biscuits, were convenient food for sailors, who took them on long voyages. Today, city people as well as tourists love these versatile crunchy biscuits, which are crumbled and made into delicious salads with the flavorful island tomatoes and capers, drizzled with fruity olive oil and seasoned with fragrant oregano. Paximadia are also topped with ksyno, a slightly tangy fresh local cheese.

The wonderful artisanal cheeses of the Cyclades—produced mainly from goat's milk, with some sheep's or cow's milk—are seasonal and most fall out of the DOC system, as they are produced in little shacks that do not even remotely meet European Union standards for exportation. The numerous myzithra (the term is generic for all kinds of cheeses), fresh and soft, aged and hard, can be excellent, though they are inconsistent and in short supply. On the islands of Tinos and Naxos, there are cheese-producing cooperatives that make the local DOC graviera from a mixture of sheep's and cow's milk. In Syros, the San Michali graviera, produced only from cow's milk, is probably the best of its kind in Greece.

Pork plays a significant role in the diet of these islanders. The winter family feasts and customs surrounding the slaughtering of the pig have not changed for centuries. Some parts of the animal, such as chops, are roasted in the oven or over the hearth fire, or stewed with celery and winter greens and lemon, often as part of a festive Christmas meal, while most is cured and stored for use throughout the year. Louza or loza—exquisite cured pork that can be compared to the best jamón serrano of Spain—is made from the tenderloin, which is marinated in wine, then spiced and smoked. Pieces of cured pork are also added to vegetable stews, bean soups, and island omelets, which are made with seasonal produce such as fresh fava beans, artichokes, or simple wild greens gathered from the hills. Cycladic sausages, seasoned with intensely aromatic dried savory or oregano and occasionally with wild fennel and orange peel, are often dipped in wine before being smoked. Seafood is not plentiful in the Aegean, which may explain why it has never been one of the basic foods of the islanders.

Her love and specialty is international and ethnic cuisine. The purpose of the blogs she writes is to educate the public about ethnic foods worldwide.

She also takes nature photos.

In the Past, Christine took cooking and wine classes on several occasions in Pennsylvania at the Sweetwater Art Center in Sewickley, Pa, The Wooden Angel Restaurant in Beaver, PA and other sites.

Christine Willard is a retired Realtor from Greensboro and High Point North Carolina. She had been a real estate agent with Greater Triad Homes and Select Realty of the Triad (her own companies) and with major franchises such as Prudential, Century 21 and Re/Max She had been a real estate agent for 30 years. She specialized in home search, distressed properties, short sales, helping people avoid foreclosure and was an internet marketing specialist for sellers. She's has been married to her husband for 26 years.

She taught French and English in public education in Pennsylvania and Ohio for 23 years. She was Foreign Language Department Head and she helped create and write a foreign language pass/fail curriculum course for the PA Education Department which included equal modules of Spanish, French and German.

She recived a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University. She also studied at Bethany College, Youngstown State University, Robert Morris University and the University of Wisconsin where she did post-graduate work in France and French Canada.

Previously, Christine has lived in Germany, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Ohio, West Virginia and Michigan. She also has experience in public education (23 years) teaching French and English, secretarial services, modeling and public service. Her interests include classical music, jazz, gourmet cooking, wine, photography, reading, her family, her dogs and walking.

She has traveled to/and or lived in 10 countries and 26 states.

She owns over 500 cookbooks and 300 herbs and spices and loves to do research on cooking from other countries. She subscribes to several magazines featuring food articles and recipes. She has also created her own personal versions of herbs and spices.

Memberships and Designations.

In 1960 she receive the Secretary of the Month through New Castle Business College. She was a member of the National Association of Realtors, North Carolina of Realtors, the Triad MLS, the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association and the High Point Regional Realtors Association. She was a member of GRI (Graduate Realtors Institute), CRS (Certified Realtor Services), RECS (Real Estate Cyberspace Specialist), e-Pro (certified e-professional), LMC (Loan Mitigation Consultant and a PME (Property Marketing Expert).